Jaarboek Kostuum 2022

Table of Contents

1. Alice Boots
   Women of Hindeloopen
   

   This article is about the regional dress worn in the Frisian town of Hindeloopen, situated in the south-western region (Zuidwesthoek) of the Dutch province of Friesland, on the former Zuiderzee, now IJsselmeer. It was a sparsely populated region and in former times almost exclusively reachable by water, even from the land side. The town was inhabited by a seafaring population and hence the men were away from home for a great part of the year. Combined with Hindeloopen’s isolated location, this resulted in the fact that during the time the men were at sea, the local women were in charge at home, as well as in the development of a unique women’s culture.

   The women who, thanks to their husbands’ income, were usually well-to-do, collected a lot of exotic trinkets which they put on show in their interior, among the many decorated pieces of furniture. They also wore beautiful clothes, partly made of chintz imported by the VOC (United East-Indian Company), which they bought in Amsterdam.

   Their dress is characterized by remarkable details such as the married woman’s headdress (the foarflechter), the elegant full-length fitted gown (the wentke) and the many gradations of women’s mourning dress. Also by the way a woman would fold her black woollen overskirt (the skorte) over the back of her head at a funeral or in a period of deep mourning.

   In the 17th century, when this unique culture flourished, neither were any pictures made of

   Hindeloopen interiors, nor of women in their regional costume. Thanks to the drawings the Hindeloopen shoemaker Hendrik Lap (1824-1974) made, either by heart or with the help of oral tradition, an idea of dress and interiors has been preserved. Also in his time interest in Hindeloopen’s history arose and the initiative was taken to create a museum collection. All this coincided with the rising interest in regional costume in the Netherlands in the 19^th century, which may be related to the increase of nationalism in that period.

   The difference in dress of married and unmarried women existing in Hindeloopen wasn’t unique. It existed also in regional costume elsewhere and is an expression of an era in which marriage and motherhood were seen as woman’s destination. Although we may think differently nowadays, the study of regional costume, seen in this way, may contribute to the cultural history of a nation in a given period.

2. Ileen Montijn
   Charles Montaigne (1900-1989), Dutch couturier in Paris
   

   In the 1940s and ‘50s, Charles Montaigne was an established figure in the world of Paris fashion. He had a maison de couture on Rue Royale, with hundreds of employees (cutters, seamstresses, mannequins, vendeuses…). His designs were praised in magazines and newspapers for their perfect cut and originality. The Kunstmuseum Den Haag owns an important collection of clothes designed by him, donated by his daughter Catherine Meuwese-Montaigne.

   The present article describes how a Dutchman of relatively humble descent, born as Karel Meuwese in Tilburg (a town famed for its woollens), rose to such a position. His formative years, spent in Belgium and France, coincide with two important developments in women’s fashion in the first half of the 20th century, viz. the success of the tailleur, the practical suit, and the breakthrough of the flou, the cutting on the bias especially of evening dresses, following and flattering the natural lines of the wearer’s body. Montaigne, trained as a men’s tailor from an early age, excelled in the first category. In 1924, he came to work with Madeleine Vionnet, who was the recognised master couturière of the second, the bias cut. As head of Vionnet’s tailoring department he had an important position with her, and they became friends.

   When Vionnet closed her business at nearly 65 years of age, in the early days of World War II, Charles Meuwese became Charles Montaigne, opening his own fashion house on January 1, 1940. He married Sonia Colmer, Vionnet’s star model, and made it through the occupation years, like other maisons de couture, with support from the French government. After the war, his business flourished, and his name was mentioned more and more often in magazine and newspaper articles in the Netherlands too. The ‘wearability’ of his clothes was praised in his home country, usually with the addendum that Paris haute couture prices were sky-high. Montaigne, as a sound business man, recognised the problem and thought up ways to tackle it.

   The several ways in which he gained fame and worked for accessability of couture in the Netherlands will be dealt with in another article.

3. Ad Timmermans
   The baptismal dress of Bunschoten-Spakenburg
   

   This article describes the baptismal dress of the regional costume of the Dutch twin villages of Bunschoten and Spakenburg. The baptismal dress known to us dates from the third quarter of the 19^th century, when a children’s frock with apron from contemporary fashion became part of the regional dress. Before that time a child would be baptized in the swaddling-clothes it had been wearing from its birth, but now baptism became the moment the swaddling-clothes were replaced by this dress and apron.

   Beside dress and apron the baptismal dress had the following components: a vest and a napkin over which came the lijfrok, a white cotton bodice with a white flannel skirt. Over this a white underskirt, made of cotton with woven-in stripes, usually with three tucks.

   Unlike the dress and apron, underwear and undergarments were not really subject to fashion. The latter changed considerably in the nearly one hundred years children were baptised in this traditional dress.

   Originally the dress had long sleeves. Ca. 1900 these became short, and ca. 1920 a considerable number of extra pleats was set in the sleeve’s cap, giving it a lavish look. After the twenties the pleats gradually disappeared and the material left over by this was added to the sleeve’s width. The overall picture of the dress changed profoundly by the sleeves becoming ever bigger. The skirt didn’t change that much, only the pleats gradually moved more and more to the back.

   The earliest model of the apron had narrow ties and an opening of more than 8 cm at the back. The ties gradually became wider and so the opening at the back disappeared. The pleats, which at first had been amply distributed, in the end were concentrated on the hips. In the opening between the apron ties a small, square, pleated scarf was laid, the most beautiful ones made of silk. With the widening of the apron ties the scarf’s shape also changed.

   When the dress got short sleeves, the child started wearing white knitted muffs. Its feet were kept warm by woollen knee stockings. The head was covered by a black undercap and the dofmutsje, decorated with pleated strips and silken ribbon. When taken to church, the child was wrapped in a cape, which after 1930 was usually replaced by a black woollen baptismal scarf.

   The mother, who carried the child to the baptism, also wore special clothing. Its most distinctive parts were the jacket of a brown, floral fabric, nachtgrond, and the ‘neepjesmuts’ (cap with little pleats).

   When the family was in mourning, both child’s and mother’s dress would be adapted. Each of the three stages of mourning had its specific colour and often specific fabrics as well.

4. Tirza Westland
   Reuniting the parts of a 19th-century dress
   A fortuitous discovery in the depot of the Kunstmuseum Den Haag

   In a large fashion and costume collection like that of the Kunstmuseum The Hague, there is always much to discover. In recent years, many items that were previously considered lost, have been recovered and new discoveries have been made. For instance, an extraordinary late nineteenth-century gown, of which different components were donated by different donors, in different years, was recently reunited.

   The gown consists of a skirt of cream-coloured silk faille decorated with cream-coloured tulle, a train of yellow silk faille and two bodices of the same fabric: an older bodice that has been almost completely taken apart and a slightly newer bodice of which the sleeves and decoration were removed. The skirt and train were donated to the museum back in 1989. The two bodices were part of a large donation of 19th-century women's clothing and were acquired by the museum in 2003.

   The new bodice and the remnants of the older bodice were assumed at the time to belong to another gown from the same donation. This particular gown is made of yellow silk brocade and consists of a skirt and bodice. While it is certainly not uncommon for a gown from this era to have multiple bodices, it is not the case with this particular gown. Not only are the fabrics too different to form a matching ensemble, but it also seems more logical that the bodices belong to the train and skirt from the 1989 donation which, although from a different donor, are made of the same material.

   The 1989 and 2003 donors turned out to have a common ancestor, the wearer of the gown, Anna Mathilda Metelerkamp-den Tex. Many dresses of this aristocratic lady have been preserved but mostly in a heavily altered state. Her wardrobe paints a picture of the clothing of a distinguished woman who also used her clothes very economically.

   The ‘rediscovered’ dress has also been altered. Originally, the gown consisted of a bodice, skirt and train made circa 1885-1887. In the early 1890s, Anna Mathilda had a new bodice made for the gown at the Cologne fashion house Bel-Federhen. At some point, the skirt and train and the two bodices were split up in the family. The skirt and train were eventually used as part of a fancy dress costume, as evidenced by the twentieth-century label of the Amsterdam fashion house Joles & Co, that is sewn into the skirt.

   After being separated for years, all the components of the gown have now been reunited and stored together in the depot.

5. Sara van Dijk
   True perfection
   A 16th-century book of patterns for virtuous women

   In the 16th century books of patterns for embroidery and lace enjoyed a huge popularity. Amongst these is La vera perfettione del disegno, published by Giovanni Ostaus, which originally appeared in 1557 and then knew four reprints. However, as a consequence of their intensive use complete editions are rare nowadays. The Amsterdam Rijksmuseum was able to acquire one of the only three copies known of the 1584 edition in 2020.

   The market for pattern books consisted mainly of women to whom needlework was a useful pastime, but also an expression of creativity and virtuousness. The book consists of 73 pages with motifs for needlework, varying from simple floral and repetitive geometrical patterns to decorative grotesques and mythological representations. These were intended to be used for several types (precursors) of lace and embroidery.

   Although Ostaus recommended the patterns as ‘new’ in the subtitle of an earlier edition, he copied – as most publishers did – freely from all sorts of existing sources, amongst which are prints by Heinrich Aldegrever and Virgilius Solis. Part of these examples are now in the Rijksprentenkabinet, which means that this is not only a wonderful asset for the library’s collection of pattern books; it is also an important link between the prentenkabinet and the textile collection. Most importantly it gives an insight into the creative process of needlework as well as a view of the needleworkers themselves, who would usually stay anonymous.

6. Daan van Dartel
   No right or wrong
   Cultural appropriation in dress and fashion

   The present article looks both at the meaning of dress in ethnological collections and at the important subject of cultural appropriation with which it is strongly connected. The origin of this natural use of elements in the world of fashion, from other cultures than one’s own, lies in the mondial colonial project.

   The article proposes a different view of objects which are usually labeled as regional or ethnical dress, by which a certain valuation is established in advance. Language plays an important role in this. Giving several examples from the mondial fashion industry results in a greater understanding of the ethical aspect of cultural appropriation.

7. Geeske M. Kruseman and Vera Bos
   The ‘vlieger’ costume of the married Dutchwoman 1600-1635
   

   The 'vlieger' costume in 1600-1635 was a three-piece suit comprising the 'vlieger' itself, the 'borst' and the 'rok', respectively a gown, bodice and skirt, all of a very specific and recognizable type. Every Dutchwoman who could afford it got such a suit for her wedding, and thereafter, the black 'vlieger' marked her as a respectable married woman. It was worn at all levels of society, from the court of the Stadthouder down to working men's wives, excepting maybe the very poorest labourers. The richer the husband, the larger the number of 'vliegers' his wife had and the costlier the materials; she would wear them daily, while working women preferred a 'jak en rok' (waistcoat and skirt) and reserved the 'vlieger' for church.

   The 'vlieger' proper was shaped by pleats mounted on a stiffened shoulder yoke. The back was a wide rectangle; the top 6 inches or so were set in broad pleats and below these, the fabric flowed loosely. The fronts were narrower and mainly shaped by thin vertical pleats from the shoulder to the waist, where the fabric flared out abruptly over the skirt. The fronts were actually tied in place on the bodice by means of points at waist level.

   The 'borst' (bodice) and skirt might be black like the 'vlieger', set off by the starched white linen of ruff, cap and cuffs, but they could also be very colourful indeed. Surviving examples show that the 'borst' was stiffened with whalebone, buckram, etc. Our experimental work indicates that this supported only the bodice itself and its decoration, and that the body-shaping garment was not the 'borst' but the 'keurslijf' (stays) worn under it.

   We also find the suit to be surprisingly comfortable. Sketching the waistline on the painted clothes of the historical portraits shows that the elegant waist is an optical illusion and involves no tight-lacing at all, even in the case of the most opulent Dutch matrons.

8. Johan A. Deij
   Metal cap frames in inventories in Zuidwest-Drenthe, 1700-1811
   

   Looking at old photographs of my ancestors in regional costume awakened my interest in Dutch national dress in general. During my ongoing genealogical research in the Dutch provinces of Zeeland, Friesland, Drenthe and other regions, my Drentish forefathers inspired me to dive into the archival sources of Drenthe, where a wealth of data is preserved.

   In the first place I began a systematic study of the estate inventories, custodianships and marriage contracts in Zuidwest-Drenthe, where Hoogeveen and Meppel are the most important cities, and making notes of these. The inventories supply data about household goods, clothing and jewellery. The custodianships include the agreements regarding the children: what they were entitled to get from the deceased parent, and also gifts, for example when they married or left the house. The marriage contracts specify when a child would receive goods like clothing and jewellery. Also which profession it was allowed to learn, or the obtaining of a cow, sheep or ship, together with the sums of money related to these.

   Due to work, trade, transport and family ties the inhabitants of Meppel and Hoogeveen were in regular contact with Amsterdam. The modernisation of dress, jewellery, furnishing of farm- or homestead was established by these contacts.

   In the present article I focus on the metal cap frame as a prominent part of regional dress. Cap frames were worn in Meppel as early as the beginning of the 18^th century, with Hoogeveen following and then the surrounding villages. Favourite was the silver cap frame with golden krullen (spirals), as a lot of people could afford this type. After 1750 we also see golden cap frames.

   There are also variants, such as the golden frame with knoppen (knobs) or spirals, or the silver one with knoppen. The wife of a labourer, craftsman or poor skipper had to make do with the silver band frame with small spirals in gold. Some women possessed almost all the components of regional dress, however no cap frame.

   It still isn’t clear how the cap frames were fastened. Many ribbons are seen in the so-called momberrekeningen (custodian’s accounts), but they are never mentioned as being part of the cap frame. Pins are rarely mentioned.

   In Zuidwest-Drenthe several cap frames were worn within the period my study focuses on: the frame with or without spirals, the one with or without knoppen, frames in silver or gold and the ‘cow’s head’ model. My study of the enormous number of data is to be continued.